Proverbs 27 Devotional Study

Is the way you handle conflict adding to the drama?

When was the last time you got really jealous? Maybe your younger sibling got married before you. Maybe your best friend bought a house you could never afford. Maybe your coworker got the promotion you wanted. According to Proverbs 27:4, “Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?”

Jealousy is a conflict that begins in our hearts. If we don’t tackle it head on, it can seep into our relationships and cause unnecessary drama.

Jealousy and bitterness lead us to make foolish choices and create strife in our relationships.That’s why it’s important to have friends who will be honest with us and call us out for our actions. “Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses,” (Proverbs 27:6). A true friend tells you how it is, but with gentleness. This challenges us and helps us to grow.

So how do we become the friend that challenges others?

Dealing with conflict starts with listening. If we listen before we answer, we may find a deeper root to the issue and be able to provide the kind of earnest counsel that brings joy to our friends’ hearts (Proverbs 27:9). A true friend also wants what is best for us. As iron sharpens iron, a good friend sharpens us and makes us better — even if it’s uncomfortable or could create conflict (Proverbs 27:17).

If we choose wisdom over jealousy and drama, our relationships will grow, and conflict will only make us stronger. So let’s choose to deal with conflict in a way that glorifies God and grows us toward one another.

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Reflect:
Proverbs 27:1	Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
Proverbs 27:2	Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.
Proverbs 27:3	A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both.
Proverbs 27:4	Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?
Proverbs 27:5	Open rebuke is better than secret love.
Proverbs 27:6	Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
Proverbs 27:7	The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.
Proverbs 27:8	As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place.
Proverbs 27:9	Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel.
Proverbs 27:10	Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not; neither go into thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity: for better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off.
Proverbs 27:11	My son, be wise, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him that reproacheth me.
Proverbs 27:12	A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished.
Proverbs 27:13	Take his garment that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge of him for a strange woman.
Proverbs 27:14	He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him.
Proverbs 27:15	A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike.
Proverbs 27:16	Whosoever hideth her hideth the wind, and the ointment of his right hand, which bewrayeth itself.
Proverbs 27:17	Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.
Proverbs 27:18	Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof: so he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured.
Proverbs 27:19	As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man.
Proverbs 27:20	Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
Proverbs 27:21	As the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold; so is a man to his praise.
Proverbs 27:22	Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him.
Proverbs 27:23	Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds.
Proverbs 27:24	For riches are not for ever: and doth the crown endure to every generation?
Proverbs 27:25	The hay appeareth, and the tender grass sheweth itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered.
Proverbs 27:26	The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of the field.
Proverbs 27:27	And thou shalt have goats' milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance for thy maidens.

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